The New Body of Thomas
by OneCreativeIdiot
Summary: Thomas the Tank Engine shares the tale of how he wanted to have his friends back when so much has changed around him...more likely, when he had changed so much.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This particular story is special to me because it's the tenth fanfic I've written; and, honestly, I'm very thankful to the people around the world who come together and read fanfiction to make it possible to inspire not only me but the millions of other young writers who want to show everyone how talented they are at writing stories. I thank all of you for the positive feedback I've received and I encourage everyone to try a hand at writing fanfics if they believe they've got a good idea for a story. And now, let's all gather around our computers and tablets to hear the tale of how a little blue tank engine tries to rebuild his relationship with others when the world he knew drastically changed...or at least, when he drastically changed.

DISCLAIMER: All elements of "Thomas & Friends" is property of HIT Entertainment.

I'm not really sure why I would want to tell anyone this story. If anything, everyone would think I'm simply making things up for attention. Something like lying is very bad for anyone's reputation and I, who many have called me "Sodor's Number One Blue Tank Engine", am no exception. Yet, because of the circumstances of the events that happened to me and my friends in the past, I am compelled to tell people my story, even if they do find it all ridiculous. I'm not worried about those people and their taunts. In my opinion, that's how it all began.

My story starts on a typically summer's day on the Island of Sodor. Everyone knows what I mean by typical- a shining sun, a cloud-free sky, and a gentle breeze from the sea. Everything about that day was pleasant at first, but then I had a couple little accidents from morning to noon that earned me embarrassment. The other engines teased me for being prone to slip-ups while doing the most easy jobs on the railway. Like I said, the accidents were little but they still had a terrible effect on me.

The worst came that afternoon while I was working at Knapford Station. I was busy shunting coaches for James when Toby trundled into the yard. He was hauling a line of freight cars full of various items and his face was as red as James' paint. He complained about how heavy his train was and I suggested that he should take a break and perhaps find someone to help. Toby said he had to get the supplies to Maithwaite so the station could be refurbished.

Unfortunately, we were too busy talking to see that Toby was blocking the entrance to Platform 3 and we didn't hear Emily chuffing towards us. James yelled out to Toby to move and Emily whistled a warning. Toby tried to puff out of the way but it was too late.

No one was hurt thankfully, but Emily was covered in different colors of paint. Out of everyone who saw the accident and was now furious at me, Sir Topham Hatt topped them all. "Thomas, you know better than making an engine stop in front of a station!" he scolded. "You've caused confusion and delay and someone could've gotten hurt! I've heard about your other mishaps today and I think it would be for the best if you went to your shed!"

My eyes fell to my buffers as I sighed. "Yes, sir," I sadly replied.

I felt everyone's angry stares as I left Knapford Station and began my journey to Tidmouth Sheds. I've been in this type of trouble many times, but there was something about this particular incident that made me very ashamed of myself. During my slow and miserable trip home, I had come to the conclusion that everyone was more annoyed by my small accidents and they no longer found them hilarious. This increased my dejection and I felt worse.

When I looked up during another moment of guilt, I spotted another train ahead of me on the track to my left. Pulling up alongside the train, I found it to be my best friend Percy with three mail cars behind him. The little green engine appeared just as exhausted as Toby was; his cheeks were beet red and he was panting quietly. I knew deep down that this could bring me more trouble but, being the good engine I usually am, I asked him what was wrong.

"I ran out of water," Percy informed me. "That isn't my real problem though. The mail is also heavier than usual so my wheels are aching terribly. Can you please help me?"

Even when I feared of what Sir Topham Hatt would say if he saw me violating my punishment, I told Percy that I would take the mail for him and my driver would phone for help. Afterwards, I shunted Percy into a nearby siding so no one would bump into him, and then I coupled up to his train and puffed down the tracks. He was right; the train was really heavy and I had a hard time getting up speed. It took me a while but, eventually, I was moving along the line smoothly.

While I made my way to the first station, I actually thought that perhaps I would be forgiven if I delivered the mail on time. This made me feel a lot better and went faster.

Then I went down a steep slope and the mail cars behind me added weight against me, causing me to go faster than I wanted to. It didn't take too long for my driver to see that I was traveling at a rate that would cause me to derail if I hit a sharp curve. I felt my brakes come on when suddenly there was a loud clank and the pressure on my wheels vanished. I found myself going faster and faster and I knew exactly what happened: my brakes were broken!

I raced down the tracks, unable to stop or even slow down. When a signal box came in sight, I whistled as loud as I could. The points were switched and I sped down the other track, hoping that a set of buffers would be in front of me at any moment. But instead of buffers in the distance, there was a red flag and sign that read "BRIDGE CLOSED FOR REPAIR".

My eyes shot open and I started screaming, begging for someone to stop me. I prayed that my driver and fireman would do something, but from my cab, I heard my fireman shout, "It's no use, Bob! We have to jump!"

I could only listen as my driver and fireman leapt out of my cab to safety. I continued to scream as I crashed through the warning sign and raced out onto the bridge. The construction frames couldn't handle my weight and they gave way. The bridge swayed to the right and I shrieked as the rocky ground came closer and closer. When I hit the bottom of the ravine, I heard the defeaning thud as my body smashed into a large boulder. All that happened after was nothing more than silence and darkness.

After what felt like three seconds, my eyes slowly opened and my vision was very blurry. I moaned as I looked at my surroundings. From what I could see through my fuzzy eyesight, I was in some sort of workshop that was completely empty, except for a few tables where someone would store tools and paint. The light of the rising sun broke through the small windows and I had to shut my eyes because I couldn't handle the brightness.

When my vision was finally steady, the large doors in front of me slid open and a familiar engine greeted me. "Thomas, you're awake!" Victor said in a cheery voice that sounded defeaning at first. "I thought that you would never wake up!"

I groaned from Victor's cry of joy but I became accustomed to it. I knew off the bat that I was at the Sodor Steamwoks; the question was, how badly damaged am I?

I asked Victor about my condition and he replied with: "I thought for sure that we had to send your remains to the scrap yard, but then a group of men asked Sir Topham Hatt to give you to them. They said it was for a special project they had planned for years and, well, it has been a great success!"

"Victor, what are you talking about?" I inquired more puzzled than skeptical.

"Now, I don't want you to freak out, Thomas," Victor calmly told me; "but you have been given a new body."

It had to be a joke, I thought, and I softly laughed. "That's a good one, Victor," I chuckled. "But, seriously, what did they do to me?"

"I am serious," Victor stated. "You are no longer a tank engine. You are now a mixed-traffic engine."

For ten seconds at least, I tried to take in what Victor said. I didn't believe it at first, but I soon realize that it had to be. I felt bigger and stronger but, at the same time, I felt weak from whatever happened between my accident and the moment I woke up. I became worried about what everyone else was going to say to me when they saw me as a new engine. Would they even be happy to see me? Probably not, I thought.

My driver and fireman soon came along with who I guessed were the men responsible for the experiment. They were all amazed as they walked around me, admiring my new form. I heard one man say, "We've really done it, lads! We have brought our dream into reality!" and then my driver said, "Thomas'll be more than useful once we get him running again. Sir Topham Hatt will be pleased."

My fireman stoked a fire and I felt power in my new body. When my driver released the brakes, I rolled forward through the open doors and into the Steamworks. I did indeed feel way more stronger than I was as a tank engine, and I actually thought that this would be a whole new start for me, or at least I could pull more trains without any problems.

When I came to the entrance of the Steamworks, there standing by the massive open door was Sir Topham Hatt. He was happy to see me even when I wasn't the same engine I was before. "Welcome back, Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt said when I stopped. "You don't know how joyful I am to see you moving again. I know that I was too harsh on you three months ago, but I'd like you to know that-"

"Three months?!" I gasped. "I've been gone for three months?!"

"Yes, Thomas, you have," Sir Topham Hatt told me; "but you have no need to be alarmed. Percy and Duck have done an excellent job of looking after your branch line and, once you start working on my railway again, you'll be the same engine you always were- a really useful engine."

I looked down to my new buffers with a frown, but when I gazed back up at Sir Topham Hatt, I gave him a small smile to hide my skepticism. "Now, I would like you to pull the Express today," Sir Topham Hatt said. "Gordon isn't feeling too well and there's no one else available. Perhaps you'll feel better after stretching your wheels."

This made my mouth drop. My first job as a mixed-traffic engine was to pull the Express? That was something I'd never expect to happen. But Sir Topham Hatt had spoken, so I replied, "Yes, sir," and chuffed out of the Steamworks.

As I sped down the line to get to Knapford, I actually felt a whole lot better with the autumn wind blowing in my face. Puffing down the tracks did feel weird though since I was getting use to being a mixed-traffic engine. However I managed to come over the new sensations and I made it to Knapford Station.

While I waited for the passengers to get onboard, a lot of people approached me and commented to others about how I looked. From what they said, I now had jet black paint with scarlet stripes, which I found odd because that color scheme belonged to James before he had it changed to bright red and gold. Coincidently, James came puffing into the station with several freight cars filled with large crates. When he noticed me, James screeched to a stop and stared at me with wide eyes.

Even though his sudden stop scared me a little, I smiled and said, "Hi, James."

James hesitated for a moment before saying, "Hello."

This made me confused. Did James think I was someone else? I wasn't sure if I should ask him if he remembered me, especially when I thought he would remember Toby's accident, so I instead asked, "It's a nice day today, isn't it?"

"Y-Yes, it is," James replied nervously before racing away.

I was bewildered. The way James acted when he saw me was utterly strange. I could ask myself what could've went through his mind because the conductor blew his whistle and I had to leave with the Express. When I blew my own whistle, I noted how different it was compared to my old one. It was a tone unfamiliar to me but I knew that I would eventually get used to it just like with me being a mixed-traffic engine. I dismissed my anxiety and I pulled out of Knapford Station.

The entire Express run went well, but it was the various moments when I would come across my friends that made me confused and uneasy. I saw Toby who was stopped by a red signal. When he saw me fly by with the Express, his reaction was all too similar to James'- his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped. The next engine to see me was Emily, who was at a water tower. I whistled a "hello" but she didn't whistle back. There was no need to ponder why there was no response from Emily; she was just as shocked as Toby and James was.

I didn't see anyone else until I arrived at Brendam Docks. Upon puffing under the huge warehouse, I spotted James, Salty, and Percy ahead of me. The three engines saw me as I slowed to a stop; they stared at me in surprise as James told them: "There he is. That's the new engine."

"Why, I don't recall a new engine coming to the railway," said Salty.

"He almost looks like Thomas," Percy remarked sadly.

"He does have Thomas' face," James told Percy; "and, for whatever reason, a largely similar voice to Thomas, but we all know that's not Thomas. He just isn't here anymore."

What James and Percy said struck me like bolts of lightning. I couldn't comprehend their words. It made me think the worse had happened during my absence. Sir Topham Hatt didn't say too much about everything that changed after the accident, but I was most certain that it wouldn't be something that would ease my concern.

The rest of the day went by very quickly, and I soon found myself at Tidmouth Sheds. As I carefully puffed onto the turntable, the other engines spoke quietly to each other, all of them making remarks my coat of paint, my familiar face, and, most obviously, my body. This came to an end when I backed into my shed and settled in.

Not a word was spoken until everyone turned in for the night.

"I can't believe Sir Topham Hatt got a new engine without telling us!" James whispered to everyone.

"It's not so much that he likes odd," Edward said in a hushed tone. "What makes my wheels wobble is that his face looks identical to Thomas."

"With all due respect, Edward," said Gordon; "we all miss Thomas, especially it being the third month since his fatal crash, but we must carry on with our lives. This new engine maybe a reminder of our mistakes, however, it's important to be a good friend to him no matter what, just as Thomas was a good friend to us all."

The other engines quietly agreed and went to sleep. I wanted so much to cry, to tell everyone that I was alive and with them again, but I couldn't speak. I was absorbed in sadness, confusion, and anger; the anger came to me when I thought that nothing about my rebuild had been mentioned to anyone else. Why didn't Sir Topham Hatt tell everyone that I was going to have a new body when he knew all about it? I don't know why, but for the fact that he kept it away from my friends, I blame him.

In the blink of an eye, it was morning. When I got a nice, burning fire in my firebox, I puffed as quietly as I could out and away from Tidmouth Sheds. I needed to clear my head of what happened the previous night, and I didn't care one bit if Sir Topham Hatt got worried about me; I just needed a good run before I did anything.

I eventually stopped at a red signal to relax. The signal was red for a maddeningly long time. I was about to go wherever the tracks would take me when I heard an engine coming my way. When the engine passed me, I saw it was Percy. He was once again pulling the mail, but he was traveling faster than he usually would. This worried me and I did not hesitate to follow him.

Upon catching up to him, I noticed how forlorn Percy was. Tears were falling from his eyes and his bottom lip quivered. When he noticed that I was traveling right beside him, Percy asked in a cracked voice: "What do you want?"

"Percy, why are you crying?" I questioned my best friend. "And why are going so fast?"

"You wouldn't understand!" Percy sobbed.

"Yes I would!" I argued. "You're my best friend!"

"No you're not!" Percy cried. "Thomas is dead! I can't think about him without knowing that I could've stopped him!"

"From what?!" I snapped. "Falling off a bridge when he tried to help his best friend?!"

Percy blinked the tears from his pink eyes as he asked, "How do you know that?"

"BECAUSE I'M THOMAS!" I shrieked.

Percy applied his brakes and I zoomed ahead of him. I tried to put on my brakes but they won't work and I ended up going faster and faster. It was as if I was being pulled forward by an invisible force, and that force was driving me straight towards the bridge that collapsed and sent me to my death. All I could do was scream as Percy called out my name as my second fate drew near.

"THOMAS!"

Sir Topham Hatt's booming voice echoed as my eyes shot open and I simultaneously yelped loudly. I panted and swiftly looked all around me. I was in my shed. I looked down and saw my buffers and lantern. "It was all a dream," I sighed in relief.

"It must have been a very bad one by the way you screamed," Sir Topham Hatt remarked.

"It pretty much was," I replied. "I did bad things, and then I died, and I was made into a new engine, and no one but you recognized me."

Sir Topham Hatt was stunned. "That indeed is a bizarre dream," he said. "In my opinion, I think it had something to do with the mishap at the Docks yesterday. You're worried that you will lose your friends and won't be really useful anymore."

"Yeah, that's why I had a nightmare," I responded.

"You know, there have been several accidents in the past, Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt told me; "and no matter what happened, you stopped at nothing until the problem was solved. You, Thomas, are one of the best engines to ever run on my railway. You're a wonderful friend to everyone and a hard worker no matter what job is given to you. That is exactly why you will always be a really useful engine."

This cheered me up and I smiled happily. Before he left, Sir Topham Hatt told me that James and Toby would be at Knapford Station to shut the morning trains. I hurried to the station and I apologized for the accident at Brendam Docks. I won't tell you precisely what happened but I will say this: there were lots of fish and the smell distracted me from my work. James and Toby forgave me and I went along to work on my branch line.

And that's my story. To be honest, I feel much better that I've told it to someone. I know I've probably wasted your time somehow but, I think I've given everyone a valuable lesson about friendship. Even if the worst happens and you feel like you won't have your friends anymore, it's not the end. You will always find someone to become friend with, even if it takes a while before you find them. Just remember that if you're always optimistic about being a good friend to everyone you meet, chances are you'll have as many friends as you wish.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: And there you have it, my tenth fanfic! I know it might have been bad or decent, but I still gave it all I got. If you have any suggestions for a story I could do, send me a message through Private Messaging; although if you have lots of ideas, I encourage you to become a fanfic writer and show the world what you got! That's all for now; I'll see you all next time!


End file.
